View from the Green Room: The enduring magic of Luke Kelly
Chris Martin performs the Luke Kelly Story.
When you look into the face of Chris Kavanagh, who plays Luke Kelly, in the sell-out ‘Luke Kelly Story’ at the Theatre Royal, and listen to that special, hoarse, rich tenor voice, you would swear it was Luke himself.
Luke has a special place in Irish hearts and minds for his unique interpretation of ballads that carry the heart and soul of what it means to be Irish.
A very special tribute from the late Liam Clancy opened a very special evening. Liam spoke of his first-ever meeting with the Liberties lad who came through the hotel toilet window – Luke had just been barred – to join a sing-song with the Clancys in an after-show session in Clare. Liam was immediately aware of the talent and confidence of the young balladeer from inner city Dublin.
Liam nails Luke’s talent and contribution to Irish music with remarkable simplicity.
"There was joy and anger, love and loss, passion and power mixed in that voice," said Liam, "that defined everything he believed in and railed against."
Luke fulfilled his destiny by living life to the full because, explains Liam, "you are what you are in your fullness".
‘We’re all in graveyards now," reflects Liam, and remembers the greats of Irish folk music – his brothers, Willie Clancy, the Dubliners, along with many others; "prisoners in the long silence."
Liam sees their legacy in those that follow on to whom the torch has passed to share the timeless vision of the storyteller – like Luke.
The Luke Kelly Story, with musicians – Ivan Smith on tenor banjo and bodhrán, singer-songwriter Hilary Kavanagh on bass guitar, Joe Finn on Uileann pipes and flute – weave a spell that never ends until the curtain falls; Luke Kelly classics that the entire audience knows and sings along with.
Luke is no longer that ‘Wild Rover’ but he gave it a good belt. When Chris launches into the ‘Ballad of Joe Hill’ – a framed trade unionist from Sweden in the USA who fought for workers’ rights, emotions from anger to love flood the stage. Despite international protests and an appeal from President Woodrow Wilson, Hill was executed by a firing squad on November 19, 1915, in Salt Lake City. His ashes were distributed to IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) branches across the world.
Songs about Irish navvies and miners working in Britain bring a similar response…"School days over…Come me little son…Poor Paddy on the railway."
Songs of emigration are also here as you would expect although they have an extra resonance in Chris Kavanagh’s performance as Luke. Broken love in "The Leavin’ of Liverpool", pain of separation in "Song for Ireland" and "Poor Paddy on the Railway".
Luke’s natural aversion to injustice and the working man explodes across "Town I loved so well" and and "Dirty old town" where the anger he felt comes across in the tone and colour of the tunes.
"Green Fields of France" brings grief and incomprehension in dollops that leave a lump in the throat and Patrick Kavanagh’s forlorn tale of unrequited love in "Raglan Road" where the ending of the 40-year-old poet’s short love affair with Hilda Moriarty, a young medical student from Clare, will always endure.
Everyone in this folk-quartet gives a stand-out performance but I must mention Ivan Smith’s unaccompanied virtuoso performance on the bodhrán which brings an ovation from the audience. Unfortunately, the rear projections of Luke and the Dubliners on the bare back wall of the theatre never quite worked and a screen would have added to the evening.
A strong script, a polished production, excellent performances and the enduring magic of Luke Kelly made for a great night on the Mall.
